[Open-education] OER Digest: Year in Review - December 13, 2018

Thu Dec 13 20:20:25 UTC 2018

>From Ethan Senack, Creative Commons USA | Volume 71 | December 13th, 2018

THE OER DIGEST - YEAR IN REVIEW

A look back at the big updates from 2018

QUICK STATS: This year, the OER Digest team - seven different rotating
authors from SPARC, U.S. PIRG, and Creative Commons USA - shared 24
editions, including 118 news updates, 50 stories from the field, and 116
interesting reads/articles. We also tried to count the number of different
campuses mentioned in Digests this year, but it was WAY too many. There’s
so much awesome work going on! We’re just grateful for your continued
readership - and for getting us over 1,000 followers on Twitter.

GLOBAL FACING: Looking beyond North America, we celebrated the 10th
anniversary <http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/cpt10/> of the Cape Town
Declaration this year. OpenCon hosted a satellite event
<https://www.opencon2018.org/un> at the United Nations around how openness
can help advance the global Sustainable Development Goals. The US reported
back on their commitments
<https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/final_us_open_government_national_action_plan_3_0.pdf>
to the international Open Government Partnership, finding that “#GoOpen and
the Open Licensing Rule at the Department of Education substantially opened
government with respect to access to information.” The report also
concludes that “the #GoOpen campaign represents the clearest example of a
change in government practice that has enhanced public access to
educational information.”

FEDERAL: 2018 was a banner year for open education on the federal level.

   -

   First and foremost, the FY18 federal budget included a landmark $5
   million grant budget for OER adoption and development efforts - the result
   of nearly a decade of advocacy. The Department of Education chose to
   administer the funds as one single, large grant, awarded to LibreTexts
   <https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/10/02/department-education-awards-pilot-oer-grant-uc-davis-open?utm_source=Inside%20Higher%20Ed&utm_campaign=b4b172b4e9-DNU_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-b4b172b4e9-228783545&mc_cid=b4b172b4e9&mc_eid=ae9697b0b8>,
   who plan to use the funds to expand its STEM open textbook library over the
   next three years, as well as develop more materials for career and
   technical education.
   -

   Advocates won a second major legislative victory this year, with the
   inclusion of another
   <https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-king-smith-secure-5-million-for-competitive-grants-supporting-open-textbooks-in-fy19-funding-bill->
$5
   million for OER in the FY19 budget - this time requiring that the money be
   used for at least 20 different grants, and offer a longer application
   window. We will expect to bring you more news on the opportunity to apply
   for this funding in 2019.
   -

   Congress also approved legislation reauthorizing the Perkins Career and
   Technical Education Act, which governs the nation's career and technical
   education (CTE) framework. Included in the bill are provisions
   permitting OER <https://sparcopen.org/our-work/cte-reauthorization/> as
   an allowable use of funds for state and local activities.
   -

   The Department of Education’s open licensing requirement for competitive
   grants reached full swing this year, as we started to see the language pop
   up in new calls for proposals like this one
   <https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/02/05/2018-02246/applications-for-new-awards-native-american-career-and-technical-education-program#p-255>.

   -

   Finally, the Department’s #GoOpen <https://tech.ed.gov/open/districts/>
   campaign has continued to grow, reaching 118 districts and 20 states. They
   also announced a new partnership with ISKME to help manage the effort.
   -

   In Canada, the national government just announced
   <http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2018/11/ccnewscontent/> that all of the
   content created under their $50 million initiative to support local
   journalism will be made available under a Creative Commons license.

STATE: California, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio,
Oregon, Texas, and Virginia all considered or passed OER-related
legislation (or took some other statewide action to support OER) this year.
Some additional highlights from the states:

   -

   New York invested
   <https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-8-million-open-educational-resources-initiative-suny-and-cuny-cut-high>
   another $8 million in open education through their SUNY and CUNY systems, a
   program that had already saved students $12 million and projected students
   savings of $28 million by the end of 2019.
   -

   North Dakota’s state auditor found
   <https://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/media/2018%20NDUS%20-%20Performance%20Audit%20-%20Open%20Educational%20Resources.pdf>
   that their investment of $110,000 in OER has saved students at least $1.1
   million, ten times the amount spent - and possibly as much as $2.4 million.
   This was the first independent audit of a state OER initiative.
   -

   Colorado established <http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb18-1331> a
   statewide OER Council and appropriated $660,000 for OER grants and
   activities. Notably, the council is required to include a student and the
   state librarian!

OTHER MAJOR MILESTONES: OpenStax announced
<http://news.rice.edu/2018/08/01/48-percent-of-colleges-2-2-million-students-using-free-openstax-textbooks-this-year-2/>
that their books are in use at half of all American colleges and
universities. Creative Commons’ annual report
<https://stateof.creativecommons.org/> found that there are now at least
1.4 billion CC-licensed works available worldwide. Open Up Resources won
top billing for their Illustrative Mathematics
<http://openupresources.org/illustrative-mathematics-curriculum-reviews-awards/>
and ELA curriculum
<https://www.edreports.org/ela/expeditionary-learning-2017/index.html> from
EdReports, earning the highest ratings ever given by the nonprofit
reviewer. BCcampus just announced
<https://open.bccampus.ca/open-textbook-stats/> they’ve broken the $10
million savings mark. Also - after their challenge for the community back
in 2018, Nicole Allen and David Wiley announced at OpenEd this year that
we’ve collectively saved students over $1 billion
<https://sparcopen.org/news/2018/1-billion-in-savings-through-open-educational-resources/>
through OER.

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those
impacted

FROM ARKANSAS: “The program was created in 2015 with the sole purpose of
removing barriers to education for students. Forty percent of classes at UA
Cossatot do not require a textbook and instead use OER materials to
supplement instruction. For the remaining 60 percent of courses, students
pay a $30 rental fee per course to rent required books.” Read More >
<http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/texarkana/story/2018/nov/28/ua-cossatot-wins-state-award/754420/>

FROM LOUISIANA: "It definitely helps — every little bit," said Kreston
Phelps who is seeking an electrical degree at CLTCC. "With this program,
every little bit I can save, thank the Lord I can save it, because every
little bit of money I can put back towards food or gas for my traveling
expenses." Read More >
<https://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/2018/11/29/free-online-textbook-access-available-cltcc-students/2151742002/>

FROM MASSACHUSETTS: “Now a sophomore and a student senator, Woods is a
passionate advocate for OER -- and she is not alone. The Massachusetts
Department of Higher Education recently launched a working group to make
recommendations related to expanding OER. The state distributed nearly
$500,000 in grants to schools experimenting with the material.” Read More >
<https://www.masslive.com/expo/news/erry-2018/12/382c4718bf6849/at-one-massachusetts-college-s.html>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Each edition, we’ll highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource

The Pacific University of Oregon is out with OER: A Field Guide for
Academic Librarians <http://www.lib.pacificu.edu/pup-oer/>, which they say
is intended “to act as a guide writ large for would-be champions of OER,
that anyone—called to action by the example set by our chapter
authors—might serve as guides themselves.”

WEIGH IN

Interesting Discussions and Strategic Reads to Repost or Share

Great to Share >>

Open access textbooks help save students money, keep them in class,
officials say | Grand Forks Herald
https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/education/4536605-open-access-textbooks-help-save-students-money-keep-them-class-officials-say

Interesting to Consider >>

A Barnes & Noble Experience | Open Oregon

https://openoregon.org/a-barnes-noble-experience/

Reflecting on 2018, and (Tentatively) Projecting the Future | Inside Higher
Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/12/12/recapping-year-digital-learning

Five Top Technology Trends in Special Education | Center for Digital
Education
http://www.govtech.com/education/Five-Top-Technology-Trends-in-Special-Education.html

Shifting Focus of Publishers Signals Tough Times for Textbook Authors |
Inside Higher Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/12/12/switch-digital-first-products-publishers-are-signing-fewer-textbook-authors

Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest at gmail.com,
or tweet us @OERdigest <https://twitter.com/oerdigest>.

The OER Digest is a public newsletter distributed to a broad group of
stakeholders across the higher education community. You can join the open
Google Group or check out the distribution list here
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/oerdigest>.
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